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Marriott points 30% off discount
If you are short of some Marriott points to make a good redemption, a decent sale has just commenced.
You can access the offer page here. Buy at least 2,000 points to take advantage of the 30%-off discount, and the offer runs until June 20. The maximum points you can buy annually has been doubled to 100,000 points for 2021.
1,000 points works out at $8.75 under this offer, which converts into £6.23. On the face of it, 30% off is a better deal compared to the 40%-bonus offer in February, but worse than the 50%- of 60%-bonus offers that we’ve seen a few times last year.
However, don’t forget that Pound Sterling is very strong against USD at the moment, and the points are actually cheaper this around compared to when we saw 50% bonus last year. It may not be a bad time to top up your Marriott account if you are looking to redeem soon.
You could also read my posts about redeeming your points for UK and European hotels, although they may not be very up to date…
IHG UK midnight checkout promotion
IHG is running an interesting yet unusual promotion in the UK, which could be useful if you need extended late checkout for a stay in the next couple of weeks.
You can see the offer here. Simply make a note when you book on IHG’s website or in the app, and the hotel will accommodate your late checkout request, for as late as 11:59pm!
There are a few catches though:
- Stay between May 17 and June 2, which is a pretty short window
- Only valid on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday checkout
- Standard room stays only
- Subject to availability
Still a good promotion anyway if you happen to need it and are happy with one of the participating hotels (listed on the offer page).
Given most hotels’ occupancy rate must still be fairly low in the next weeks (at least on weekdays), I assume that they would try the best to fulfil your request, even if you are staying in a non-standard room.
Free Leading Hotels of the World Club membership (usually $175)
Similar to GHA and SLH, Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) is a hotel alliance for high-range boutique hotels. It operates its membership program in a different way though, as you’ll need to pay to get any benefits.
There are two membership tiers:
- Club: $175 fee per year, benefits include free wi-fi, continental breakfast, welcome gift, early check-in and late check-out. You’ll also receive one room upgrade voucher having completed the first stay.
- Sterling: $5000 spend required per year, addition benefit is five room upgrade vouchers.
You also earn points from hotel stays which you can use for free night redemption. There is a secret invitation-only tier above Sterling, namely Aurelian, for those whose annual spend fall in the top 1% amongst all members. The whole scheme reminds me of InterContinental Ambassador now…
LHW is running a promotion though which is giving the $175 membership for free. To sign up, simply visit their website and wait for the pop-up:
Click Join Now, or use this link to claim it. If you have an existing LHW account, sign in first before visiting this page and your membership should be activated as well.
As you can see from the advert, you’ll also get 500 points as a kickstart, which appears to be worth $40 when you reach the threshold to redeem them.
LHW has eight properties in London (including The Ritz, The Landmark and The Lanesborough) as well as one in Scotland. Its spread is quite decent in Western and Southern Europe, and I’m especially astonished when I see there are 33 hotels in Switzerland!
LHW’s website can be flaky so you may need to try a few times. The membership is valid for a year so you may prefer to wait till you have any travel plans, however it’s not indicated anywhere when the offer is going to be pulled.
Related Read:
Instant Indulged upgrade with Small Luxury Hotels
Small Luxury Hotels, or SLH, is yet another boutique hotels group with a decent spread worldwide. You may have heard the name from its connection with the Hyatt hotels that started a couple of years ago.
SLH has its own loyalty program as well, and members can enjoy some benefits when booking direct:
- Invited entry level with complimentary wi-fi, early check-in and late check-out upon request
- Inspired four nights per annum, with complimentary breakfast and room upgrade subject to availability thrown in
- Indulged thirteen nights per annum, with a free night voucher upon attaining status and invitation-only events
SLH runs quite a few promotions in collaboration with different organisation that gift you Inspired status straightaway without meeting the stay requirement. Even better, there’s even a chance for instant upgrade to Indulged, their top-level status.
You could view the offer page here. Through this offer, HSBC Jade members can enjoy a complimentary upgrade to Indulged courtesy of a special arrangement. HSBC Jade is a semi-secretive client tier within the bank, and you won’t get in unless you are very wealthy. However, this offer doesn’t require any validation – simply login or create a new account on the page, and the upgrade should take effect right away.
It worked for me briefly, and then dropped to Inspired a few days later 🤷♂️ To be fair, the stay benefits between Inspired and Indulged look almost identical.
Remember that you can also book SLH hotels through Hyatt, difference being:
- Not all SLH hotels are bookable through Hyatt
- Only Best Flexible Rate is available on Hyatt, whereas many discount rates on SLH
- Earn Hyatt points, or $300 voucher for every 12 nights with SLH
- Stay benefits are pretty much the same on paper, however I’d expect Indulged / Globalist members fare better with regards to room upgrade
Related Read:
Village Hotels 7-day £30 Flash Sale
With England and Wales already opened up, and hotel accommodation in England to re-open soon as well, Village Hotels is running another sale to entice customers.
You can view the offer page here, to book you’ll need to create an account or sign in.
- Book by May 10
- Stay between May 17 and December 31
- Room rate start from £30
- In addition, you could purchase a £40 dining voucher for £20
Village Hotels tend to be located in the countries or at least far from the busy areas, therefore their rates are usually not high – on top of that, there’s some serious discount you can get in this offer.
Village Hotel Edinburgh, which is not far from the city centre, can be had for as low as £40 from September onwards. Although availability is blocked during the Fringe Festival, many dates in July and August can still be had for £60, which is pretty good for a summer holiday in the Scottish city.
Loads of summer availability for £40 – £60 for Village Hotel Swansea:
And Village Hotel Bournemouth：
You could also pay more for a better room (Family / Club) in the booking process. Note that however, the rate is non-refundable and one change is permitted – although rate change may apply.
IHG Q2 promotion, earn up to triple points
It’s been a while since IHG’s first-quarter global promotion ended, and the next one is finally revealed.
You can sign up to the offer here.
- Valid for stays from May 15 to August 16
- Double points on your second stay
- Triple points on your third stay onwards
- The maximum bonus points is capped at 100K during the promotion period
Award stays don’t count for the sake of earning bonus. If your first stay is booked on points, then the following paid stay won’t trigger double points as I understand it.
Similar to Hilton’s promotion, the offer is not too bad if you have paid stays in line for the next months especially if the bill is going to be big. It’s useless if you only intend to redeem points though, unfortunately.
Keep the staircase conditions in mind and make sure you plan your stays wisely – if you have an expensive stay coming up, stay at least twice beforehand to maximise the bonus points.
Stay twice with IHG and earn a free night voucher (targeted)
IHG appears to be back on the track to rolling out targeted offers as we are seeing more and more of them recently. @hypnos has just shared a new ludicrous offer and you could see if you are eligible.
The link to register for the offer is here, but I suspect that for most of us it will just return an error message suggesting that it’s not available to us.
If you get lucky, you need to stay twice by July 29 at any IHG hotel to win a free night voucher, and I believe they must be paid stays. It is a very good offer really, although not many people can really benefit.
Free 12-Month Mr & Mrs Smith GoldSmith Membership (Usually £400)
You probably have heard of Mr & Mrs Smith – Similar to Small Luxury Hotels they are a loose hotel alliance, or rather marketing platform for boutique hotels, with exceptionally strong presence in the UK and also good footprint in many other countries.
They have recently tied up with IHG, and many Mr & Mrs Smith hotels are now already bookable via IHG either with cash or points. If you hold a Vitality health insurance policy, you may qualify for up to 25% discount when booking their hotels.
Apart from their partnership with IHG, Mr & Mrs Smith actually has their own membership program:
- BlackSmith Free to join, 1% cashback on bookings and Smith Extras
- SilverSmith £100 annual fee, 2% cashback on bookings, Smith Extras and Priority Pass membership
- GoldSmith £400 annual fee, 3% cashback on bookings, Smith Extras, Priority Pass & Onda membership, room upgrade subject to availability and travel concierge service
Smith Extras is a complimentary add-on to your stay, which may be a welcome fruit platter, free breakfast, room upgrade or free set meals. SilverSmith and GoldSmith members may qualify for better Smith Extras at certain properties.
The Priority Pass membership offered doesn’t come with any free visits, which means you have to pay for each entry to airport lounges (£20 in the UK).
I’m not sure how the travel concierge or room upgrade works out in reality, but at the first look the GoldSmith benefits are quite underwhelming to me considering the whopping £400 annual fee.
But wait, didn’t I say free? Mr & Mrs Smith is running a promotion with American Express, where Centurion / Platinum cardmembers enjoy a free upgrade to GoldSmith and the remaining to SilverSmith. You can access the offer page here and enter the first 6 digits of your Amex card to see if you are eligible.
The thing is, it’s unclear what markets the offer is targeted at. The terms say that UK-issued cards are not eligible for the promotion and indeed my cards don’t work. However many of my friends tried their US- or China-issued cards and also no avail.
And after many trials and errors, I’ve found a BIN code – 371595 – which is eligible for the GoldSmith upgrade. You should be able to fill out your personal information on the next page to apply for your membership.
It may take a few minutes for the welcome email to arrive, and if not you could also try resetting your password which should also activate your account.
And here are the Smith Extras you can expect at certain UK hotels:
- London, Ham Yard Hotel – A cocktail each at the bar
- London, 11 Cadogan Gardens – Full English breakfast for the two
- London, The Franklin – £50 hotel credit
- London, The Portobello Hotel – A free room upgrade and bottle of hand sanitiser (!)
- Cornwall, St Mawes Hotel – A bottle of Prosecco and tickets to local attractions
- Cotwolds, Lucknam Park Hotel & Spa – Traditional afternoon tea for two
Remember that you can also book some of the hotels via IHG or even Amex FHR / Virtuoso, and here are some pros and cons:
- Amex FHR / Virtuoso Very limited selection of hotels; Priced at Best Flexible Rate so relatively expensive; Very good benefits (free breakfast / room upgrade / £100 hotel credit etc)
- IHG Good selection of hotels; Priced at Best Flexible Rate so relatively expensive; Smith Extras benefits; Earn & redeem IHG points
- Mr & Mrs Smith Direct Booking All hotels; Many (cheaper) rates available; Potentially better Smith Extras benefits thanks to GoldSmith
The membership is valid for 12 months. If you think you may set foot in one of the hotels in the near future, why not grab a free tier upgrade now?